The Secret to Success - a Positive Mindset

Hello, Reader!

As you can tell by the title, I’m here today to reveal the biggest secret to success; a huge factor in my academic performance… staying positive and the law of attraction. However, before I do, I think a disclaimer is necessary. I fully recognise that a positive mindset is sometimes the most difficult thing to achieve. I know many people who struggled with forms of depression throughout their time at school and I understand that a ‘just think positive!’ comment doesn’t suddenly fix anything and that it simply invalidates the struggle you might be going through. This post is simply my ramblings about something that hugely improved my academic performance and overall well being that I’m sharing out of hope that it can help you as well!

Remembering my own school environment, the general attitude towards school work or classes was constantly “I’m gonna fail anyway” or “I’m so tired, I can’t be bothered”. When expecting the worst is the norm, whether you perpetuate it or are simply surrounded by it, there’s no chance for a supportive and encouraging environment which enables you to thrive. Of course, our education system isn’t perfect - in fact, it’s far from it - especially A Levels are filled with a heavy workload and heaps of stress, but all of us are going through the same thing so the best thing we can do for each other, and ourselves, is to create that positive environment of mutual support and encouragement rather than creating an atmosphere of “I’m going to fail anyway” because it doesn’t help anyone.

My mindset shifted entirely around the time I read the biography of Malala Yousafzai; it really opened my eyes to how privileged I am to receive an education and opportunities that people in other places in the world can barely dream of. As I said, it’s not perfect, but it’s much, much better than nothing and it opens so many doors for us which we so often fail to remember. After reading it, I wasn’t suddenly jumping for joy at doing my homework, but it became much more difficult to complain about since I knew that each homework I did and each essay I wrote brought me a little closer to my goals and my future.

Another thing I stand by is thinking and speaking things into existence. If you keep repeating “I will fail” or “I’ll never get it”... you most likely won’t. This is because you’re less likely to work hard and have the right attitude for success. This is known as the Law of Attraction because you’re almost attracting things with your mind. I know this sounds like juju, but it makes perfectly logical sense - your thoughts affect your mindset, which affects your work ethic, which affects your results. This means that you can make the Law of Attraction work in your favour: by imagining the best possible scenario and believing that it will happen, it’s more likely to happen as you will more likely make decisions and take risks to make it happen. Simply replace “I’m gonna fail anyway” to “I’m struggling now, but I’m going to do well” and “I’ll never get it” to “I don’t get it now, but I’m going to keep at it until I do”. 

This carried me through the entirety of A Levels; I kept convincing myself that I’ll do well and I’ll get the grade I want. I envisioned how my A Levels will go when I struggled with my workload: I imagined sitting in an exam hall, feeling prepared and getting questions I knew I could answer and I imagined coming out of exams feeling satisfied. If you want to find out more about the Law of Attraction or thinking things into existence, I’m happy to share my knowledge - just pop me a message! Otherwise, there are tons of resources online that you can find and read about more, I found it really fascinating. 

Stay positive :)

Love, Agnes xo